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Ricky Williams wouldn’t mind returning to Miami Dolphins, but believes he and Ronnie Brown won’t be back

Despite the comments he made in January, in which he criticized Tony Sparano’s coaching style and lamented the number of carries he had during the regular season, Ricky Williams says now that he actually wouldn’t mind returning to Miami in 2011.

“I think, yeah, if the Dolphins really want me to stay and make a fair offer, it would be hard for me to turn it down,” Williams said Thursday evening on his radio show with Sid Rosenberg on 560-AM. “But I don’t know if that’s going to happen.”

The NFL lockout has prevented the Dolphins, like the other 31 teams, from talking publicly about free agents and negotiating contracts with their agents.

But the Dolphins had until the start of the lockout on March 12 to sign Williams and Ronnie Brown, both unrestricted free agents, and didn’t. To Williams, the evidence is clear that neither of the Dolphins’ popular running backs will be back with the team next year.

“People are making the assumption that the Dolphins want Ronnie or myself back,” Williams said. “Ronnie and I have had some success doing what we’ve been doing here the past couple years, but things changed last year. We’re not the same offense that we were two years ago. And I think, new offensive coordinator, I think they might want to go in a different direction.”

Ricky Williams (34) doesn't believe he or Ronnie Brown will return to the Dolphins next year / Post file

Rosenberg said on the air that people often ask him if Brown and Williams are coming back, and he answers that both are unlikely to return. Rosenberg said he perceives Brown, the team’s No. 2 draft pick in 2005 and a popular player in the community, to be upset at the Dolphins for costing him a chance at a $500,000 bonus for reaching 750 rushing yards (he finished the season with 734) and for not re-signing him to a contract extension during the season. As for Williams, Rosenberg said he perceives that Williams wouldn’t mind returning to Miami, but probably won’t.

General manager Jeff Ireland and Sparano have said the Dolphins will look to improve team speed and want their running backs in 2011 to complement each other differently after Brown and Williams patrolled the backfield with a similar skillset for the past three seasons. Additionally, the Dolphins will almost certainly get younger at running back, with Williams turning 34 in May and Brown turning 30 in December.

Williams said he doesn’t mind that the Dolphins may not want him back. He is a free agent for the first time in his 13-year career, and is enjoying the uncertainty.

“I’ve never been a free agent, so it’s exciting to me,” Williams said. He and agent Drew Rosenhaus “have had some preliminary conversations” about where Williams will land, but “he doesn’t like those conversations now. He just tells me, ‘Keep an open mind and be patient and let’s see what happens.'”

Williams said he will monitor the NFL draft to see which teams draft running backs and which teams still have a need at the position.

“I know in my situation, I have things to offer that a rookie can’t offer,” Williams said. “I think I bring positivity. I think I bring leadership. I’ve proven that I can play at a high level consistently.”

Williams, the longest-tenured Dolphin at nine years and the franchise’s all-time leader in rushing attempts (1,509), said he believes he still has some good football left in his body. While the Dolphins’ rushing attack struggled in 2010 – Brown averaged a career-low 3.7 yards per carry and the Dolphins finished 21st in the NFL in yards, 29th in rushing touchdowns and 30th in yards per carry – Williams was still productive when given opportunities. He averaged 4.2 yards on his 159 carries (about 10 per game) and broke off a 45-yard touchdown run against Oakland.

“I look at my performance under the circumstances, I’m very happy with the way I played,” Williams said. “Considering we didn’t run the ball consistently, and we weren’t as consistent up front, and you know, we were more of a passing team and things didn’t really go our way, I was still able to average over 4 yards a carry.”

“Could I have played better at times? Of course. I might be 33 going on 34, but I still, every game, every day, I’m looking for ways to improve as a football player. I don’t believe that because I’m older, that I can’t keep getting better.”

With the lockout preventing teams from beginning their offseason programs and giving the players more free time then they are used to, Williams called this offseason an “experiment” into having a normal life after football. He said he is happy having more “balance” – working out on his own, but also helping coach his son’s little league baseball team, taking classes at Nova Southeastern and traveling on the weekends.

“It’s been really interesting to be able to create my own schedule,” Williams said.

Williams said he isn’t worried about the current pace of CBA negotiations between the players and owners. He believes not only that the lockout will get settled in time for the NFL to stage a normal season in 2011, but that it will bring positive change to the league.

“The fact that the process is public, it makes people nervous, but it’s just a process,” Williams said. “There’s going to be football. There’s very intelligent people, there’s very wealthy people, trying to figure this out, and they’ll do it. There will be football. It’s just a process, and I think the positive way to look at this is, there are things about the game that need to be changed.”